House of Bangalore

In 1967 the Society of St Paul acquired a large piece of land at Nagasandra in the outskirts of Bangalore (now known as Bengaluru). In the evening of 24 December 1968 Fr Gabriel Colasanto and Br Basil Chennamkulam started the community of Bangalore, with the celebration of Holy Mass in a small garage. They began living and working there with neither electricity nor water facility, and started cultivating the vast field. In April 1969 Archbishop Lourduswami of Bangalore broke the soil for our first building there, and the construction began. The building was completed in 1969 itself, and a small press began functioning there. Fr Gabriel Colasanto was the first superior of the community of Bangalore. In February 1972 he left India definitively and returned to Italy.
The Novitiate was shifted from Allahabad to Bangalore and a group of 13 novices began the canonical year of Novitiate on 29 June 1970. They made their First Profession on 30 June 1971. Fr Stephen Pullan was the first Novice Master in Bangalore.
When Fr Luigi Zanoni, Vicar General, visited Bangalore in 1971 he found the community active and happy; as a sign of appreciation of the work done, he gifted the community with a tractor and accessories for working in the large field. In 1972 Fr Gabriel returned to Italy on the advice of his doctor. The same year the first batch of 18 aspirants joined the community of Bangalore. Thus in 1972 the SSP community in Bangalore became full-fledged, with five Brothers, four Priests and a group of Aspirants.
The press used to do a good deal of printing for National Biblical Catechetical Liturgical Centre (NBCLC), Theological Publications India (TPI) and Asian Trading Corporation (ATC). Those days each house was financially independent and self-supporting and managed its own apostolate. In 1975 the community started printing and publishing books for St Paul Publications.

In 1986 Fr Paul Vechoor, the Provincial, appointed Fr George Kaitholil of the Allahabad community to raise funds to build a separate novitiate house in Bangalore. He visited Italy, Germany and Austria and raised adequate funds with which the novitiate house, with a garden in front of it, was built and a fairly good cattle shed was constructed in the premises of the Bangalore house. The new Novitiate House was blessed in 1987, and the novitiate was shifted from the local house building to the new building on 30 May 1987.
At present Bangalore is a formation house of aspirants, novices and a few juniors studying philosophy in St Peter’s Seminary. It is also an apostolate house with a fairly well equipped printing press, a diffusion centre, the central warehouse of the Province (blessed on 28 November 2009 by Very Rev. Fr Silvio Sassi, Superior General) and the editorial office of our Kannada language publications. A centre for Biblical apostolate, Alberione Good News Centre, was opened in the Bangalore house in June 2012.
The Catholic community of Chokkasandra, close to our Bangalore house, was organised by the Paulines, and the Archdiocese built a small church and named it St Paul’s Church. Two acres of land was given by the community of Bangalore to the Archdiocese of Bangalore for the nascent parish, one acre at concessional rate and one acre free of cost. Later it was made a parish and the diocesan priests were in charge. In 2010 thePaulines took up St Pauls Parish and a Pauline priest was appointed Parish Priest.
The Pauline Spirituality Centre of the Province, with a small library and office, was located in the Bangalore house. From there, material for animation were prepared and sent to all the communities of the Province. After Fr George Kaitholil, the director, was elected Provincial Councillor in 2011 and was transferred to the Provincial House in Mumbai, the Spirituality centre was closed till further arrangements were made. It was reopened and named Alberione Spirituality Centre, with Fr Vincent Gnarakatt as the new diirector and a number of members to work with him.

Thoughts

19/12/2018
Those who do not love young people cannot find the means and they neither know how to attract them. Only those who love often think of others, and thinking of others is often the secret of success (ATP 282).

We celebrate the feast of our Founder, Blessed James Alberione. Along with my Team and all in the Provincialate, I join you spiritually to celebrate the event meaningfully. I pray that God our loving Father may shower his choicest blessings on all of us and on all the apostolic activities of our Province through the intercession of our beloved Founder.

Our Province has just celebrated the Chapter on the theme “Do everything for the Gospel”. Alberione employed all his energies to the spread of the Good News in all its forms with all means that were at his disposal. Though physically weak he was moved by the Spirit of God to leap in to the unknown for the sake of the Gospel. May the vision of our heavenly Founder inspire us to greater commitment in our mission. May his determination to do something noble to the men and women of his times challenge us to personal renewal and may his indomitable spirit inspire us to be and to do everything for the Gospel.

Have a wonderful and grace-filled celebration of the feast. Stay blessed always.

Kindly keep our Brothers in Nigeria in your special prayers. May the Good Shepherd be close to them during these days of pain, sorrow and loss.